1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
NATOUkraineEuro 2024
SportsGermany

Tim Lobinger: Former German pole vault champion dies at 50

February 16, 2023

The athletics world is in mourning after Lobinger lost a long battle with cancer. He was the first German to clear the six-meter mark outdoors in 1997.

https://p.dw.com/p/4NcUf
Tim Lobinger
Lobinger is one of only 26 pole vaulters to ever break the six-meter mark indoors or outdoorsImage: Frank Hoermann/SVEN SIMON/picture alliance

Former German pole vault champion Tim Lobinger has passed away at the age of 50, his family told German news outlets on Thursday. 

He wrote his name into the record books in 1997 by becoming the first German pole vaulter to clear the six-meter (19.6 feet) mark outdoors.

He landed a gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, UK in 2003, along with a bronze in Moscow in 2006.

Lobinger was also awarded gold during two European Indoor Championships: Valencia, Spain in 1998 and Vienna in 2002.   

In addition, the world-class pole vaulter received silver medals at the 1998 European Athletics Championships in Budapest and the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.  

Former German pole vaulter Tim Lobinger holding his silver medal at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Sweden
Lobinger received multiple awards for pole vaulting skills, taking part in competitions in Hungary and SwedenImage: Frank Hoermann/SVEN SIMON/picture alliance

He also took part in four Summer Olympic Games on behalf of Germany in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008.

A yearslong health battle

Lobinger had battled with cancer since being diagnosed with leukemia in 2017. After multiple chemotherapy treatments and stem cell transplants, the disease subsided in 2018.   

His cancer situation, however, took a turn for the worse in more recent months.  

He admitted that he wouldn't be cured of cancer during an interview with the German daily Bild in October, due to the severity of the disease. 

"It's worth fighting for every day that I can live and spend with my family," Lobinger said in that interview.  

Lobinger was married twice in his life.

He had two children with triple jumper Petra Lobinger, who he was married to from 1994 to 2003. He was also married to TV journalist Alina Baumann from 2011 to 2017, with whom he had a son.     

German football club RB Leipzig tweeted that it was mourning the loss of Lobinger, and expressed condolences to his family. He worked as an athletics trainer for the club from 2012 to 2016.

wd/rt (dpa, SID)